Saturday, October 25, 2014

On government involvement in patent acquisition

An op-ed in the Lincoln, Nebraska Journal-Star by a former Novartis employee includes the text:

Patent trolling has proven so profitable that it has lured foreign governments into the field. China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea all have created their own companies that exist for the sole purpose of obtaining patents and suing companies over them. These companies are more dangerous than regular Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs), which is what patent trolling companies are called, because they have the financial backing of foreign governments. Their resources are virtually unlimited.

The Chinese Government’s troll is probably the most ominous threat. China is known for its lack of respect for intellectual property rights. In April 2014, the United States Trade Representative included China in its list of 10 “Priority Watch List” countries, which threaten innovation and creativity through their abuse of intellectual property rights. Portentously it was in April of this year that China also launched its government controlled troll, which they are calling Ruichuan IPR Funds. If China were able to make it on this list of the 10 most concerning offenders before their government got into patent trolling, just imagine of what they are capable now?

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About Me

I'm a patent lawyer located in central New Jersey. I have a J.D. from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from Stanford University, where I studied graphite intercalation compounds at the Center for Materials Research. I worked at Exxon Corporate Research in areas ranging from engine deposits through coal and petroleum to fullerenes. An article that I wrote in The Trademark Reporter, 1994, 84, 379-407 on color trademarks was cited by Supreme Court in Qualitex v. Jacobson, 514 US 159 (1995) and the methodology was adopted
in the Capri case in N.D. Ill. An article that I wrote on DNA profiling was cited by the Colorado Supreme Court (Shreck case) and a Florida appellate court (Brim case). I was interviewed by NHK-TV about the Jan-Hendrik Schon affair. I am developing ipABC, an entity that combines rigorous IP analytics with study of business models, to optimize utilization of intellectual property. I can be reached at C8AsF5 at yahoo.com.